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Tyson Teichmann was, at the same time, rooting for and commiserating with his old Erie Otters teammate.

The injured London Knights goalie was one of the first in Oshawa's General Motors Centre on Sunday afternoon to find out about the drama playing out over in St. Catharines. Otters starting goalie Ramis Sadikov was hurt less than two minutes into the game, and travelling without a backup, needed the 17-year-old forward Crisp as an emergency replacement in net.

"I texted him and told him to have fun and enjoy the moment," Teichmann said. "Man, that's a tough situation to be in. You hope the best for him."

Crisp had been out all season with a shoulder injury. This was his first game of the year.

He ended up allowing 13 goals to the OHL Eastern Conference-leading Niagara IceDogs, including five to relentless Ryan Strome, but made 32 saves and was named first star of the game for his heroic effort.

News of Crisp's feat quickly spread around the hockey world.

Interestingly enough, this isn't the first time the Otters found themselves in this kind of situation.

"The same thing happened (Dec. 1) when we went to play Niagara," said Teichmann, an Otter before being dealt to London in January along with Greg McKegg and Brett Cook. "That time, I was hurt, so the team went without a backup and Rammer played but luckily, he didn't get hurt.

"For Connor, they would've had to take off Rammer's pads and he would've had to strap those on. Teams don't just don't carry around an extra set of goalie equipment."

Crisp, a six-foot-two, 220-pounder from Alliston, wasn't in the lineup back then.